From: Paul Sorenson
Another option, for Windows users that hearken back to DOS days (or are
comfortable with using the command line) is to use xcopy with whatever
switches are appropriate. Put the command into a batch file and set the
Windows Scheduler up to run the batch file to automate the backup. You
can see what syntax to use and which switches are available by running
"xcopy /?" from the command window.
Now there's a real blast from the past.
I don't know if xcopy can do what I want. I can write a batch file to
copy files over the network that uses the xcopy command, but I can
already copy files to the network drive fairly efficiently using Bridge.
Or even using a right click drag & drop in Windoze.
Here's what I've got: I have a series of files - file0001.jpg,
file0002.jpg ... file9999.jpg. The files are spread out over a number of
directories on my computer.
I've got a directory structure that's been evolving as I develop a more
rationalized scheme. Essentially I organize folders in a tree:
Photography
\yyyy [year]
\\yyyymmdd_something that reminds me what I was photographing
The current scheme has evolved to:
\\yyyymmdd_something-to-remind-me
It puts my work in a date sequence order that I find easy to search
through.
I've also got something like 10 external USB drives. I copied photos to
these USB drives at different times over the last 6 years using whatever
version of the sub-directory scheme I had evolved at the time. Sometimes
I went back and updated the sub-directory scheme and moved files around
on the USB drive.
Depending on when I copied files to the drive and if/when I updated the
sub-directory scheme it might be "_something that reminds me" or
"_something-to-remind-me" OR some combination of the two.
Some or all of the files already exist on one or more USB drives. But
the sub-directory containing any file or group of files may not be the
same on the USB drive as it was on original drive NOR the same as my
current scheme.
I want to figure out what files are on what drive and what sub-directory
they're in.
Lets say hypothetically that on a certain date - June 21, 2005 - I went
out to a local rose garden and took 101 photographs.
To start with:
My computer has \\20050621_garden.
My laptop doesn't have \2005 at all, because I got the laptop in 2007.
Drive # 1 has \\20050621_garden.
Drive # 2 has \\20050621_rose garden.
Drive # 3 has \\20050621_rose-garden.
... variations on a theme ...
Drive # 9 has \\20050618_around town (including some 20050621 images).
Drive #10 has \\20060521_rose-garden (because I fat fingered it).
Further complicating things is I have gaps in what I copied onto the
drives. The folder on my computer may have file0022 - file0045 and then
skip to file0068 - file0101 because I deleted files at some time.
USB Drive #1 has file0005 - file0045 and file0068 - file0101
USB Drive #2 has file0022 - file0072 and file0075 - file0101
USB Drive #3 has file0005 - file0021 and file0072 - file0101
...
None of them has file0001 - file0004 *in that directory*, but those
files may exist in another directory on one of my USB drives.
*AND* sometimes "file0025" exists on multiple drives, but it's not the
same file. It may turn out I renamed one of my missing files and
over-wrote "file0025" on a certain USB drives.
Or renamed it on the computer after having copied it to one or more USB
drives and subsequently saved the renamed file to some other USB drives.
What I'm looking for is a program that will allow me to see what files
exist on two different drives and to see what directory they're in, and
see enough info about the files to determine if they're the same file.
That's so I can find the files that fill the gaps and find the files
that have duplicated names.
And find the sub-directories where I fat fingered while updating
sub-directory names so "\\20050621_rose-garden" became "\\20051206_rose
garden".
Or even worse "\\20060521_rose garden".
I want a program to show me the discrepancies, so I don't have to go
through and output a directory listing for each folder on each drive and
plow through a line by line comparison to find the mismatches before I
can wipe the drive and make it a real backup.
I want a program to high-light the discrepancies and tell me:
"This file is here on this drive, but it's there on that drive."
OR
"This file is here on this drive, but it's not on the other drive."
OR
"These two files have the same name, but they're not the same file."
I'd like something graphical, sort of like the old Windows File Manager,
but it shows the discrepancies in *BOLD* or highlighted.
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